Electric terminal



y 1951 c. STONEHILL 2,553,341

ELECTRIC TERMINAL Filed Dec. 19, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet l Figl.

Inventor: Cyrus Stonehill, WW

|-lis Attorney.

1951 c. STONEHILL 2,553,341

ELECTRIC TERMINAL Filed Dec. 19, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor: Cyrus Stonelflill, b mm His Attorney.

Patented May 15, 1951 ELECTRIC TERMINAL Cyrus Stonehill, Fort Wayne, Ind., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation 01' New York Application December 19, 1947, Serial No. 792,740

1 Claim.

This invention relates to electric terminals and more particularly to a quick detachable type which does not require the use of springs, screws or solder to provide a fast connection.

The majority of electric terminals not employing solder, or some other similar means, for fastening the wire to the terminal is one of two types. Either the wire is connected to the terminal by the use of a screw mechanism in which normally the screw is incorporated as a part of the terminal and the wire is fastened by means of the pressure exerted by the tightened screw, or a spring mechanism is used to fasten the lead to the terminal. These methods of fastening have certain inherent characteristic which at times makes them undesirable. The use of solder provides a permanent connection and necessitates an extra mechanical operation. In machines in which vibrations are present a screw terminal tends to loosen as a result of the vibratory motion of the machine. Continuous use of a spring type terminal will eventually cause the spring to fail and make the terminal useless. These shortcomings are overcome by this invention and it is the intention of this invention to provide a terminal which is not affected by vibration or repeated use and which provides a permanent connection without the use of solder or some other similar material.

It is an object of this invention to provide a new, simple and inexpensive electric terminal which does not require the use of solder, springs, or screws.

It is another object of this invention to provide a new and simple electric terminal which will not be affected by external vibration.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an electric terminal which has incorporated in it a keeper so as to positively hold the terminal lead in place.

Still another object of this invention is to provide an electric terminal to which, in case a connection of greater permanence is desired, solder may be applied with ease.

Another object of this invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive electric terminal which requires a minimum of time and effort to fasten the lead to the terminal.

This invention will be better understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a particular embodiment of the invention showing a wire which is to be fastened to the electric terminal, and Fig. 2 is a similar front elevation showing the wire in the fastened position. Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken through the section 3-3 of Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the electric terminal. Fig. 5 is a front elevation of an alternative construction of the electric terminal showing the wire to be connected before it has been fastened. Fig. 6 is a similar front elevation showing the wire in the fastened position. Fig. 7 is a sectional view through the section 7-1 of Fig. 6, and Fig. 8 is an exploded perspective view of this particular alternative construction of the electric terminal.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in Fig. 1 an electric terminal board I on which is mounted a novel and simple electric terminal 2. The terminal 2 is constructed of two main members, a formed body 3 and a rotatable rivet 4. The rivet 4 is of cylindrical shape having a hollow center 5 and crossed grooves B and 1 approximately perpendicular to each other. The rivet l is attached to the main body 3 by peening one end of the rivet 4 as shown at 8 in Fig 3. The peened edge 8 holds the rivet 4 securely to the main body 3 and allows the rivet 4 to rotate freely. The body 3 of the electric terminal 2 is formed of a main section 9 to which the rivet 4 is fastened; a section It! to which a. permanent electrical connection may be made in any well known way and which may also serve as the means for attaching the terminal 2 to the board I, and a third section or keeper l l which overhangs the rivet 4 as shown in Fig. 3 and serves to hold wire 12 in place.

Initially the wire I2 which is to be fastened to the terminal device is placed in either one of the mutually perpendicular grooves, 6 or 1. As shown in Fig. l the wire l2 has been placed in groove 6. A screw driver or similar device is forced into the other groove 1. Thus the wire I2 is held in position by the pressure of the screw driver. In Fig. 2 the rivet 4 is turned approximately of a revolution in a clockwise direction forcing the wire l2 between the keeper I l and the outside surface of the cylindrical rivet t. The clearance between the outer cylindrical surface of the rivet i and the roof of the keeper H is dependent upon the size of wire to be fastened. The clearance must be small enough so that a considerable positive pressure is exerted on the wire l2 when it is forced into place, and yet it must be large enough so that the force necessary to lock the wire l2 between the keeper l l and the rivet 4 is not of such magnitude that it cannot be achieved by ordinary hand-tightening oi the screw driver. So as to hold the wire !2 in place, the keeper 1 l overhangs the rotatable rivet 4 slightly as shown in Fig. 3.

It can be seen from the drawing that when a permanent soldered connection is desired it is very simple to seal the rotating member 4 to the main body 3 and also to the wire I2 with one simple soldering operation. Since there are no screws involved when there are vibrations present in the device to which the terminal board I is fastened the rivet 4 has no preferential direction of rotation.

An alternative method of construction of the electric terminal is illustrated in Figs. 5-8. In this construction the terminal is made of two members, a rotatable cylindrical member l3 and a main shut metal cup shaped body 14. The rotatable member i3 is grooved in a manner similar to the rotatable perpendicular slots by the member M member [3 and is l5 and IB'and is held in place which fits over the rotatable fastened by the legs I! to the terminal board 1. It will be noted that there is no mechanical connection between the rotatable member 13, andthe member 14 or the terminal board I. This allows for simpler manufacture and installation. Since the rotatable member l3 is not permanently fastened in one particular position, it is allowed a certain degree of freedom within the enclosing cup 14 and thus can accommodate wire of various sizes. The rotatable member I3 is first placed within the cup I4 and the cup I! is mounted on the terminal board I. In the illustrated case the cup 14 is fastened in position by the use of two mounting legs 11 but any other suitable mounting means may be used. One of the mounting legs may serve also as the means for making the other necessary electric connectionto the terminal. The proper distance of the cover E8 of the member l4 above the terminal'board -l is maintained by the guards 19 which are of such a length that a small amount of clearance is allowed between the rotatable member 13 and the cover I8. To fasten a wire to the electric terminal the grooves 15 and 16 are first aligned so as to correspond with the open corners of the member [4. The wire I2 is then inserted into a groove and is fastened in place. This is done in a manner similar to the one explained previously.

While there have been shown and described certain particular embodiments of this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art 5 that various changes and modifications can be rivet 3 having two mutually made therein without departing from the invention and, therefore, it is aimed in the appended claim to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

An electrical terminal comprising, in combination, a main conductor body of a flat metal strip having a straight central portion and two integral end portions extending in opposite directions from the ends of the central portion, one of said end portions being generally hook shaped, a member in the form ofa circular cylinder, means for pivotally attaching said member to the central portion of said main body so that one end of said cylindrical member is against the surface of said central portion, crossed slots in the other end of said member extending entirely thereacross, the end portion of said main body which has a hook configuration being in overlying relation to a portion of the cylindrical surface of said member and being spaced therefrom by a distance of the order of but less than the width of said slots so as to form a space into which the ends of said slots open when said member is rotated, said slots being freely accessible from outside said terminal whereby when a wire end of a diameter substantially equal to the slot width is inserted in one of said slots and said member is subsequently rotated by a tool inserted in the other slot the wire will be drawn into said space and clamped 'between said hook shaped end portion on said main body and the cylindrical surface of said member.

CYRUS STONEHILL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 7 1,799,706 Sangals Apr.'7, 1931 2,104,192 Ford Jan. 4, 1938 2,388,724 Cornella Nov. 13, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 126,796 Austria Feb. 10, 1932 354,331 Germany June 8, 1922 375,038 England June 23, 1932 

